Liberation

by Christopher Isherwood

  47 Edward Upward taught at Alleyn’s School, Dulwich, where Ward studied; John Mervyn Upward, Edward’s younger brother, taught at Port Regis and was headmaster for many years.

  48 Woody himself eventually published a different version of the book; see Glossary.

  49 Probably a film set in Berlin; see Glossary.

  50 Proposition 6, initiated by State Senator John Briggs, aimed to bar gays, lesbians, or anyone advocating a homosexual lifestyle from teaching in California state schools.

  51 A Man of God (1957), being republished in paperback; Isherwood did write the Foreword; see Glossary under Vividishananda.

  52 Receptive to the light of God or the inspiration of the Spirit; see February 28, 1961 in D.2.

  53 Berwick—Canadian-born, American-educated historian, journalist, T.V. broadcaster, teacher, and former Santa Monica neighbor—recalls that Isherwood said on the show (taped May 13 for NBC): “I believe that by being absolutely frank about oneself, one builds the most surprising bridges with other people. If you make the kinkiest confession, reveal the secret of secrets, expose something that no one else has experienced—sure as hell you’re going to get a letter from a stranger saying, ‘That’s exactly how I feel—how did you know?’”

  54 Prick Up Your Ears (1978).

  55 Devised by American wrestler Henry Wittenberg (1918–2010), 1948 Olympic gold medallist.

  56 Actor, film director, screenwriter (b. 1940, London), a protégé of Orson Welles; he edited Easy Rider (1969) for his friend Dennis Hopper, produced documentaries about Vietnam, and later directed films based on his life in the movie business.

  57 With the Swamis in America (1938) by Gurudas Maharaj, also known as Atulananda; edited in the 1970s by Pravrajika Brahmaprana and reissued as With the Swamis in America and India. Atulananda, one of the first western swamis in the Ramakrishna Order, lived in monasteries in the U.S. and India.

  58 Leon Spinks (b. 1953) won the heavyweight title from Ali on February 15, 1978, and on September 15, Ali won it back from him.

  59 “The lady doth protest too much, methinks.” (Hamlet III.ii).

  60 Natalie was not drunk, but taking tranquilizers prescribed by her doctor. Thaïs Leavitt, her daughter, was a ballerina; see Glossary.

  61 Vaccaro; see Glossary.

  62 Dune (1965), by Frank Herbert.

  63 The Gay Liberation Book (1973) and The New Gay Liberation Book: Writings and Photographs about Gay (Men’s) Liberation (1979), edited by Len Richmond and Gary Noguera. Noguera evidently redid the interview; see October 17 below.

  64 D. Harry Montgomery, partner in a local commercial and fine art printing company, Typecraft, Inc., started by his father-in-law, former publisher of the Pasadena Independent Newspaper.

  65 American artist (1948–1985), trained at California State University, Northridge; he first showed at Nicholas Wilder’s gallery in 1975 and worked prolifically in many styles until his early death from AIDS.

  66 Pope John Paul, elected August 26, 1978, died thirty-three days later on September 28, the shortest reign in papal history.

  67 In the 1978 BBC T.V. adaptation of Hardy’s novel.

  68 Artist and teacher; she later showed photographs and mixed media work at the Craig Krull Gallery in Santa Monica.

  69 American film producer, educated at Marymount College and UCLA; she was a production assistant for Roger Corman in the 1960s and worked in T.V. Her films include Norma Rae (1979) and, for CBS, Richardson’s “The Penalty Phase” (1986). Isherwood typed Asseyed.

  70 I.e., Bill Franklin.

  71 From “The Laboratory: Ancien Régime.”

  72 Simon (b. 1927) was already famous for his Broadway comedies, especially Barefoot in the Park (1965) and The Odd Couple (1965), and a dozen screenplays, most recently The Goodbye Girl (1977) and California Suite (1978); his newest work, They’re Playing Our Song (1979), was about to preview at the Ahmanson in Los Angeles before opening on Broadway in February.

  73 Cardinal Timothy Manning (1909–1989); Los Angeles was among the largest dioceses in the U.S. for enrollment in Catholic schools.

  74 By activist English professor Karla Jay and journalist Allen Young, based on 5,400 questionnaires completed by gays and lesbians, published in 1979.

  75 American painter, art critic, novelist, teacher (b. 1941); he was an associate editor at ArtForum, 1966–1976, and chairman of the board at the Los Angeles Institute of Contemporary Art, 1977–1979. Later, he was senior art critic at Newsweek, 1989–2003.

  76 Jeanne Weymers, wife of lighting expert Robert Weymers, who lit the Getty Museum and also worked in Paris; both Belgian. They were friends of filmmaker Jean Renoir and his wife and close friends of Caron; she often stayed in their Beverly Hills apartment.

  77 American comedian (1924–1987), he did stand-up routines and appeared in about twenty-five films, including It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963), The Producers (1968), and Love at First Bite (1979).

  78 British actor (1933–1995), educated at Eton and the Central School of Speech and Drama. He played classical roles at the Old Vic and with the Royal National Theatre and appeared in My Fair Lady (1964). He later starred on T.V. in “The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes” (1984–1994).

  79 Huxley and his first wife, a Belgian, lived in France during the 1920s and 1930s; see Glossary.

  80 Black American actor (1925–2007), a literature professor before he took his first Shakespearian role in 1956. He also appeared in films—Black Like Me (1964), The Comedians (1967), Topaz (1969), The Cowboys (1972)—and on T.V.

  81 Burroughs’s bibliographer and literary executor (b. 1953); a University of Kansas drop-out. He edited some of the later novels and managed Burroughs’s chaotic life and career.

  82 Bockris (b. 1940, England) graduated from the University of Pennsylvania; he worked for Andy Warhol, contributed to his magazine, Interview, and wrote biographies of Lou Reed, Keith Richards, Debbie Harry, Patti Smith, and Warhol himself—The Life and Death of Andy Warhol (1989). With Burroughs, he co-wrote A Report from the Bunker (1981).

  83 John Paul Getty III (1956–2011), grandson of the oil tycoon, was kidnapped in Rome in 1973 and chained in a cave in the Calabrian mountains for five months. His grandfather loaned his father the multimillion-dollar ransom only after the kidnappers cut off the boy’s ear and mailed it to a Roman newspaper.

  84 Evidently the New York marathon, which passes through Brooklyn.

  85 I.e., Susanna Moore, then divorcing Richard Sylbert; see Glossary under Laughlin.

  86 Ellen Griffin Dunne (1932–1997), wife of Dominick Dunne from 1954 to 1979; she had multiple sclerosis and was later confined to a wheelchair.

  87 The Bhagavad Gita: The Song of God, Selections Read by Christopher Isherwood, recorded by Charlie Mitchell (Krishnadas) and Jon Monday (Dharmadas); see Glossary under Dharmadas.

  88 Williams’s full name was Thomas Lanier Williams. A.L. Rowse (1903–1997), English historian, poet and Shakespeare scholar, published his third highly controversial book about Shakespeare in 1977.

  89 American actor (b. 1953, Texas), trained at the Ohio University School of Theater; he was a replacement in the Broadway production of Equus, October 1974–October 1977, appeared in the film Without a Trace (1983), and published a novel, Acqua Calda (2005).

  90 The Neon Woman (1978) by Tom Eyen, which had already had an off-Broadway run.

  91 Abandoned; see Glossary.

  92 A Meeting by the River, directed by Albert Marre and produced by Terry Allen Kramer and Harry Rigby, had ten previews on Broadway beginning March 20 and opened for a single performance on March 28. Simon Ward played Oliver, Keith Baxter played Patrick, Keith McDermott was Tom, Siobhán McKenna, Margaret, Sam Jaffe, the Swami, Meg Wynn-Owen, Penelope.

  93 Though Isherwood uses the pseudonym Vernon in both books.

  94 American director and producer (1915–2007). He worked on Broadway before launching “Playhouse 90,” a live T.V. drama series which won CBS six Emmy awards in 1956. La
ter, he was head of production at Twentieth Century-Fox Television, then founded his own production company.

  95 Swope’s wife was the actress Dorothy McGuire; see Glossary.

  96 Local activist (b. 1942), raised in Troy, New York, as Donald Grace. In 1976, he began teaching gay studies at California State University Long Beach and Northridge campuses and at L.A. Community College.

  97 Mitgang—magazine writer, novelist, biographer, editor, T.V. news documentary producer (b. 1920)—was on the editorial board of The New York Times. He published several articles in the 1980s about the Auden– Isherwood–Spender circle; he and Isherwood began corresponding in 1965.

  98 Abandoned by the last of three crews in 1974, Skylab 1 was meant to orbit until the mid-1980s, but it eluded NASA’s control and returned to earth July 11, 1979, scattering debris over the Indian Ocean and western Australia.

  99 The Tarascan figure, from Mexico, is mentioned again in the entry for August 7, 1980, below.

  100 Adelbert Reif (b. 1936, Berlin) wrote for German newspapers and magazines and published books based on interviews with European intellectuals—Hannah Arendt, Roland Barthes, Erich Fromm, Claude Lévi-Strauss, Golo Mann, Albert Speer—and about music and composers. His wife, Ruth Renée Reif, co-authored several.

  101 Produced by the Group Theatre in 1938 and published by Faber the same year; the new version was never performed.

  102 Created by Isherwood’s godmother, Agatha Trevor, who died in 1933.

  103 Perhaps Isherwood mistyped La Jardin for le Jardin, but his French was good; more likely he replicated errors, including the capitalization, to highlight the absurdity of the invitation. Compton, second wife from 1960 until his death in 1980 of Broadway director Harold Clurman, wrote, directed and starred in Stranded (1965) and wrote, directed, and produced The Plastic Dome of Norma Jean (1966). Steiger (1923–2002) became famous acting with Marlon Brando in On the Waterfront (1954) and won an Academy Award for In the Heat of the Night (1967). He married five times.

  104 A reproduction of a Bachardy drawing of Isherwood.

  105 Corr (b. 1955, London, of Irish parents) was the Leverhulme Travelling Scholar; he won the Royal College of Art Drawing Prize after his return, followed by later prizes for his drawings, designs, and book illustrations.

  106 Journalist—for L.A. Weekly, The Advocate, Frontiers, Vibe, Spin—social historian, and biographer; later, he wrote The Trouble with Harry Hay (1990) and co-wrote Gay L.A.: A History of Sexual Outlaws, Power Politics, and Lipstick Lesbians (2006).

  107 American journalist and longtime staff writer for the Los Angeles Times.

  108 Artist and graphic designer, living in Pasadena. He sat for Bachardy several times.

  109 The San Francisco City Supervisor who shot and killed Mayor George Moscone and gay fellow Supervisor Harvey Milk on November 27, 1978. See Glossary.

  110 Costumer on several Hollywood films, including, later, Francis Ford Coppola’s One from the Heart (1982) and Hammett (1982).

  111 Brown, who once studied for the Roman Catholic priesthood, was running for president. See Glossary.

  112 Astrologer and therapist (1946–1986), born in Cleveland, settled in San Francisco; a student of Jung’s work and Executive Director of the National Council for Geocosmic Research. He died of AIDS.

  113 POPism, the Warhol 60s (1980), by Andy Warhol and Pat Hackett.

  114 Responding to the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in December 1979, Carter asserted in his State of the Union Speech on January 23, 1980, that the U.S. would protect its “vital interest” in the Persian Gulf region with force if necessary; see Glossary under Carter.

  115 American musician; he often sat for Bachardy, and they sometimes had sex. He died of AIDS in his early thirties. Coleman was an assumed name.

  116 The 1980 film about a serial killer targeting gay men starred Al Pacino, not Travolta.

  117 Re-edited U.S. version of Gone to Earth (1950); both films starred Jennifer Jones.

  118 Oil prices doubled in 1979, and inflation rose to nearly fifteen percent by March 1980; Iran still held the U.S. hostages; the war in Afghanistan continued; and the U.S. and eleven other countries planned to boycott the 1980 Olympic Games in Moscow.

  119 I.e., College of Marin, a two-year college in Marin County, north of San Francisco.

  120 See the entry for September 17, 1979 above.

  1 W.H. Auden: A Biography was published in 1981; Isherwood read a type-script.

  2 Los Angeles gallery run in a basement by Tom Jancar and Richard Kuhlenschmidt.

  3 Peter Schjeldahl, American poet and journalist (b. 1942), wrote about art for The New York Times, The Village Voice, and other publications; later, in 1998, he became chief art critic for The New Yorker. His wife, Brooke Alderson, had a small role in Urban Cowboy.

  4 Film director (1902–1981), born in Alsace, working in Hollywood from the early 1920s; he won Academy Awards for Mrs. Miniver (1942), The Best Years of Our Lives (1946), and Ben-Hur (1959). His many other films include Wuthering Heights(1939), Carrie (1952), Roman Holiday (1953), and Funny Girl (1968).

  5 Johnson (d. 1985), a Norwegian-American painter, worked in a gay bookstore on Santa Monica Boulevard, where he met the American writer White (b. 1940), visiting from New York. Johnson died in his early thirties, of AIDS.

  6 Isherwood quotes a different line from this passage, above, February 23, 1974.

  7 MacLaine, the movie actress and Broadway musical star (b. 1934), whose films include Sweet Charity (1969), Terms of Endearment (1983, Academy Award), Madame Sousatzka (1988), Steel Magnolias (1989), and Postcards from the Edge (1990), believes in reincarnation and has written about it in several autobiographical books.

  8 American poet and scholar (1922–2006), educated at Harvard. He was Auden’s secretary, 1946–1948, and lived in Athens from the early 1960s.

  9 Fouts and George, pacifists during W.W.II, met at Civilian Public Service Camp in 1942 and shared an apartment; as Isherwood tells in D.1, George was a professor of French before the war. He was a very light-skinned black, could easily “pass,” and introduced Fouts to his black friends.

  10 Not identified.

  11 Ordained in 1978 as a minister of the Universal Christ Church, later called the Universal Church of God, an interfaith community based in Burbank. He was a member of the Vedanta Society from 1957, when he was initiated by Prabhavananda.

  12 Rappaport; see Glossary.

  13 Cullen (1913–2001) published books about the murderers Jack the Ripper and Dr. Hawley Crippen and about the conman Maundy Gregory but nothing about Gerald Hamilton.

  14 The Life of Misia Sert (1980), about the Polish-French pianist and saloneuse (1872–1950), by Arthur Gold (1917–1990) and Robert Fizdale (1920–1995), piano duo and longtime companions.

  15 Her; she served in Athens from 1979 to 1981.

  16 In “The Decoys,” beginning, “There are some birds in these valleys,” The Orators, Book II.

  17 Matthew Curtis Klebaum; he worked at Nicholas Wilder’s gallery for a while and sat for Bachardy several times.

  18 Colacello (b. 1947) was editor, 1971–1983, of Interview and contributed a regular column, “Out,” accompanied by his party snapshots. He also helped Warhol run his studio, The Factory. Later, he wrote for Vanity Fair and published a biography of Warhol, Holy Terror: Andy Warhol Close Up (1992), before undertaking a two-volume work on the Reagans.